New Colorado law on funeral regulations led to Davis Mortuary investigation
Michael Logerwell
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) said it made the discovery of multiple decomposing bodies in a secret room at Davis Mortuary during a “mandated annual inspection” on Wednesday.
But just a few years ago, this inspection might have never happened.
In May of 2024, Governor Jared Polis signed the Sunset Continue Mortuary Science Code Regulation bill (HB24-1335) into law. That law required funeral homes and crematories to be subject to inspections on a routine basis and allocated DORA inspectors more power to complete the inspection.
KRDO13 Investigates’ coverage of another funeral home, Return to Nature, contributed to the drafting of that legislation. Our coverage ultimately won a Murrow Award.
Rep. Brianna Titone (D) was a primary sponsor on HB24-1335. Titone says this week’s inspection would not have happened without the passage of that bill.
“After all of the decades of having no regulations or inspections, we are finally going to right the wrongs that have been and are still going on,” Rep. Titone said. “We were the ONLY state without regulation, and clearly this has attracted bad faith actors in the funeral industry.”
Another primary sponsor on that bill and others regarding the funeral home industry, Rep. Matt Soper (R) said the news coverage around Return to Nature led to more changes in how Colorado regulates funeral homes and crematories.
“The type of news coverage that shocks the conscience, and people were just stunned. I mean, they were mortified. And so they were coming to us as legislators, actually demanding that we do more,” Rep. Soper said that after a body brokerage scheme was uncovered, he sponsored HB20-1148, Offenses Committed Against A Deceased Human Body. That now-law made abuse of a corpse a felony; it was previously a misdemeanor.
“This is what my constituents and the general public across Colorado asked for us to do. They wanted to ensure that the government actually had the ability to make a license mean something,” Rep. Soper said.
At a CBI press conference on Thursday, a DORA official said this was the very first mandatory annual investigation of the Davis Mortuary. KRDO13 Investigates asked DORA how many times Davis Mortuary had been inspected in the past 15 years. At this time, it isn’t clear how many times they’ve been inspected.
Also revealed at the press conference, none of the employees at the Davis Mortuary were licensed to practice as a funeral director, a mortuary science practitioner, an embalmer, a cremationist, or a natural reductionist. HB24-173, which is now law, requires a license, but not until 2027.
To read all of our reports on the Davis Mortuary case, click here.